Investigation of magnetic nanoparticles for the rapid extraction and assay of alpha-emitting radionuclides from urine: Demonstration of a novel radiobioassay method
In the event of an accidental or intentional release of radionuclides into a populated area, three things must occur in a timely manner: food and drinking water supplies must be determined to be safe to eat / drink, civilians and/or military personnel must be surveyed to ensure that they do not have external contamination, and they must be screened to ensure that significant ingestion or inhalation of radionuclides has not occurred (this paper is concerned with the latter). In the event of such a disaster, the volume of radiobioassays to be performed would be tremendous. If the event released significant levels of β- or α-emitting radionuclides, in vivo assays would be ineffective. Therefore, highly efficient and rapid analytical methods for radionuclide detection from submitted spot urine samples (≤ 50 mL) would be required. At present, the quantitative determination of α-emitting radionuclides from urine samples is highly labor intensive, and requires significant sample preparation and analysis time. Sorbent materials that provide effective collection and enable rapid assay could significantly streamline the radioanalytical process. We have demonstrated the use of paramagnetic nanoparticles as a novel class of extracting media for four α-emitting radionuclides of concern (Po, Ra, Am, and U) from chemically unmodified and pH 2 human urine. Herein the initial experimental sorption results are presented along with a novel method that utilizes paramagnetic nanoparticles for the extraction of radionuclides from unmodified human urine followed by the magnetic field-induced collection of the particles for subsequent α-counting-source preparation. Additionally, we construct a versatile human dose model that determines the detector count times required to estimate internal human dose at specific protective action thresholds. The model provides a means to assess a method’s detection capabilities and use fundamental health physics parameters and actual experimental data as core variables. The modeling shows that with effective sorbent materials, rapid screening for internalized α-emitters is possible from a 50 mL spot urine sample volume collected within one week of exposure/intake.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab. (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1019193
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-76192; HLTPAO; 30400; 400412000; TRN: US201114%%678
- Journal Information:
- Health Physics, 101(2):196-208, Vol. 101, Issue 2; ISSN 0017-9078
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
CONTAMINATION
DETECTION
DRINKING WATER
FOOD
IN VIVO
INGESTION
INHALATION
MILITARY PERSONNEL
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOISOTOPES
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SIMULATION
SORPTION
URINE
bioassay
radiobioassay
nanoparticle
paramagnetic
alpha
actinide
polonium
americium
radium
emergency
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory